Picture hanger assembly

ABSTRACT

A picture hanger assembly especially suitable for releasably securing display frames to a wall. A hanger and a mating member are respectively mounted to a wall and a frame to releasably secure the frame to the wall by interaction between the mating member and the hanger. The mating member is pivotally supported by the hanger to allow the frame to be centered after being releasably secured to the wall.

United States Patent [1 1 Morrill PICTURE HANGER ASSEMBLY [75] Inventor: Alan Morrill, New York, NY.

[73] Assignee: No-Mar Products, Inc., New York,

[22] Filed: Sept. 26, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 400,995

[52] US. Cl. 248/489 [51] lint. C1 A47g 1/16 [58] Field of Search 40/1521; 248/489, 479,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1887 Wilkinson 248/495 4/1901 Dyer 248/479 X 8/1932 Jones 248/489 X [451 Jan. 21, 1975 1,949,180 2/1934 Rettich 40/1521 2,875,542 3/1959 Peach 40/1521 3,330,525 7/1967 Weinstein 248/496 3,529,799 9/1970 Schaefer 248/496 Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin Attorney, Agent, or FirmBlum, Moscovitz, Friedman & Kaplan [57] ABSTRACT A picture hanger assembly especially suitable for releasably securing display frames to a wall, A hanger and a mating member are respectively mounted to a wall and a frame to releasably secure the frame to the wall by interaction between the mating member and the hanger. The mating member is pivotally supported by the hanger to allow the frame to be centered after being releasably secured to the wall.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PICTURE HANGER ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a picture hanger assembly and especially to a picture hanger assembly for allowing a display frame to be releasably secured to a wall and to be pivotally disposed so that centering of the display frame on the wall is provided. While picture hangers have taken various forms, picture hanger assemblies which have provided for interlocking members including a first part mounted to a display frame and a second part mounted to a wall have not provided the positioning capability desired. Without such positioning capability, centering of the frame is difficult and renders such interlocking arrangement less than completely satisfactory.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a hanger assembly is provided for pivotally and releasably securing a display frame to a wall. The hanger assembly is constructed of a hanger and a mating member being releasably secured to the hanger. The periphery of the hanger is circular and the shape of the mating member is circular so as to interact with and allow pivoting between the mating member and the hanger. The mating member and the hanger are mounted to a display frame and wall respectively and then the frame is releasably mounted to the wall and is pivotally disposed so as to render centering thereof to be easily achieved.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved hanger assembly capable of releasably securing a display frame to a wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved hanger assembly capable of providing a pivotal securing of a display frame to a wall to allow centering of the picture frame in a highly accurate manner;

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hanger assembly constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a hanger assembly, as illustrated in FIG. I, mounted to a wall;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along lines 44 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 4, a picture hanger assembly indicated generally at 10, is comprised of a hanger 11 and a mating member 12. The hanger 11 is formed of an abutting portion 13 and base portion 14 defining the inner or back region of hanger l1, abutting portion 13 projecting forwardly from base portion 14 in the upper region thereof. The abutting portion includes an aperture 15 formed therein and a projecting portion 13a in the region of said aperture projected outwardly to a small extent to provide a further support for a nail 23 to be passed therethrough. The abutting portion 13 is semicircular and correponds to the circular curviture of the periphery of base portion 14. At least the upper edges of both abutting portion 13 and base portion 14 are formed with converging inclined edges to define a V-shaped channel 16 therebetween.

The mating member 12 is formed of a rectangular block having a cutaway portion substantially defining the segment of a circle. The cutaway portion is defined by a wall 19 forming a V-shaped projection. The V- shaped semicircular projection 19 defines a segment of a circle slightly larger than a semicircle so as to define two inwardly pointing tips 21. Apertures 20 are formed in the rectangular wall and as is hereinafter discussed provides means for mounting the mating member to a display frame.

In operation the hanger 11 is mounted to a reference member such as wall 22 by a nail 23 passed through the aperture 15 into the wall 22 to firmly secure the hanger to the wall. Aperture 15 is inclined to the longitudinal so that weight in the hanger tends to hold the nail in the wall. The mating member 12 is mounted to a display item such as frame 24 by passing nails 23 through apertures 20 to thereby affix the mating member 12 to a frame 24. Next the display frame and mating member 12 mounted thereto are placed upon the hanger 11 insertably engaging the V-shaped projection 19 into the V-shaped groove 16 formed in hanger 11. Because the V-shaped projection 19 occupies more than the semicircle defined by abutting portion 13 of hanger 11, inwardly pointed tips 21 serve to releasably lock the mating member to the hanger. The region of the mating member above the tip 21 is relatively thin, permitting outward flexing of said tip for said releasable mounting upon the lowering of the mating member onto the hanger. In this manner, the frame is releasably secured to the wall 11 and is held very close thereto. The semicircular shape of the hanger l1 and the substantially semicircular shape of the cutaway portion 19 of mating member 12 allows the mating member 12 to be both releasably secured to and pivoted about hanger ll, hence allowing the display frame 24 to be centered.

It is understood that the surface of the hanger 11 could be formed with a projection and the corresponding cut away portion of the mating member could be formed with a grooved portion to provide a fit therebetween. Moreover, it is further understood that apertures 20 in mating member 12, and aperture 15 in hanger 11 are not the exclusivemeans by which said members can be mounted to the respective surfaces. Such mounting means as adhesives are also contemplated.

The surface of one or both of groove 16 and projection 19 may be knurled to increase the friction therebetween as shown by knurled region 16a of FIG. 1.

It will thus be seen that the object set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding de' scription, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes maybe made in the above construction with out departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

it is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

l. A hanger assembly for mounting a display frame to a reference support comprising in combination, a hanger formed of a substantially circular disc and including means for providing a mounting of the hanger support to a reference member, said hanger being formed with a base portion and an abutting portion of substantially semicircular cross-section projecting forwardly from an upper region of said base portion; and a mating member including a substantially semicircular cutaway portion defining a segment of a circle larger than semicircular to allow the mating member to be releasably locked into position with the hanger and further including means for mounting said mating member to a display frame, said hanger and said cutaway portion of said mating member being respectively formed with mating surfaces defining a segment of a circle to permit releasable mutual engagement for support of said mating member by said hanger relative pivotal displacement for centering of said display frame.

2. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the portions of said mating member at the ends of the mating surface defined by said cutaway region is flexable in the plane of the arc defined by said mating surfaces to permit releasable locking engagement of said hanger and mating member.

3. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein one of said hanger support and mating member is formed with a substantially V-shaped peripheral projection and the other is formed of a correspondingly shaped peripheral groove.

4. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein at least a part of the surface of one of said groove and projection is knurled.

5. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means for mounting said mating member on said display frame includes apertures dimensioned to permit nails to pass therethrough into said display frame.

6. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means for mounting said hanger on said reference member includes an aperture extending through the base and abutting portions of said hanger inclined at an angle to said reference member and dimensioned to permit a nail to pass therethrough into said reference member. 

1. A hanger assembly for mounting a display frame to a reference support comprising in combinatiOn, a hanger formed of a substantially circular disc and including means for providing a mounting of the hanger support to a reference member, said hanger being formed with a base portion and an abutting portion of substantially semicircular cross-section projecting forwardly from an upper region of said base portion; and a mating member including a substantially semicircular cutaway portion defining a segment of a circle larger than semicircular to allow the mating member to be releasably locked into position with the hanger and further including means for mounting said mating member to a display frame, said hanger and said cutaway portion of said mating member being respectively formed with mating surfaces defining a segment of a circle to permit releasable mutual engagement for support of said mating member by said hanger relative pivotal displacement for centering of said display frame.
 2. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the portions of said mating member at the ends of the mating surface defined by said cutaway region is flexable in the plane of the arc defined by said mating surfaces to permit releasable locking engagement of said hanger and mating member.
 3. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein one of said hanger support and mating member is formed with a substantially V-shaped peripheral projection and the other is formed of a correspondingly shaped peripheral groove.
 4. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein at least a part of the surface of one of said groove and projection is knurled.
 5. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means for mounting said mating member on said display frame includes apertures dimensioned to permit nails to pass therethrough into said display frame.
 6. The hanger assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means for mounting said hanger on said reference member includes an aperture extending through the base and abutting portions of said hanger inclined at an angle to said reference member and dimensioned to permit a nail to pass therethrough into said reference member. 